I've been thinking about Noah lately.
Not the Sunday school version—the real one. The one who built an ark for something he couldn’t yet see. God gave him the instructions before the flood, down to the measurements, the layout, the very type of wood.
“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”
— Genesis 6:14
God didn’t say, “Wait until it starts raining.”
He said, “Start gathering the gopher.”
And I can’t shake the feeling that this is what idea work often looks like.
Before insight floods in—before clarity, before momentum, before the big revelation—God invites us to gather.
For me, that looks like a morning walk. It’s not glamorous. It’s not even always productive. But it’s where I gather my wood. Outside, in the stillness, something opens up. I notice things. Patterns. Phrases. Feelings. It’s like I get handed a pair of spiritual glasses and suddenly I can see the ideas floating around me.
But I have to go there to gather.
And gathering doesn’t feel like building. That’s the frustrating part. It feels like wandering. Like delaying. Like dragging logs around with no blueprint in hand. I don’t have a hammer. Just a satchel full of wood and some scribbles.
But here’s what I’m learning:
Gathering is part of building.
No wood, no ark.
No walk, no insight.
I’m in a season right now where I’m discerning something big—something that doesn’t have a public name yet. It’s not a book or a product or a project. But it still feels like an ark. Quiet. Weighty. Requiring faith, space, and obedience.
I’ve been gathering for it for a while now. Scribbled notes, Scriptures, passing thoughts. A whole collection in Sublime titled “What’s Next?” And I’m learning that even when I don’t know the full shape of the ark, I still need to gather the wood. Because one day, the building will begin—and I’ll be grateful for every piece I carried.
Not every log I come across is right for this ark. I pass a lot of good wood. But I’ve learned to only collect the gopher. Not the trendy wood. The called-for wood. The kind God knows will float when the waters rise.
Some of the “gopher wood” I’ve picked up on recent walks:
So here’s a word for any fellow shepherds of thought out there who feel stuck:
Maybe it’s not time to launch.
Maybe it’s time to gather.
Even just one piece today.
And when the rain does come?
You’ll be glad you built a room for it.
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